Tomorrowland: Meet the actors #Tomorrowland

TOMORROWLAND opens in theaters everywhere on May 22nd!

The day I had dreamed since I was a teenager became a reality when I got an invite to the press conference for Tomorrowland. I was going to be able to be in the same room with George Clooney. Then I saw the movie (review coming up soon) and I really knew I wanted to learn more from the actors and how the movie came to life.

In a very funny and fast moved press junket we got to interview George Clooney (“Frank Walker”), Britt Robertson (“Casey Newton”), Tim McGraw (“Ed Newton”), Raffey Cassidy (“Athena”), Brad Bird (Director / Producer / Writer), Damon Lindelof (Producer / Writer) and Jeff Jensen (Story By).

Some of the things we learned are that George Clooney likes to rap to entertain his fellow actors and that when he is asked personal questions in a press junket he is funny and with a very charming personality changes the topic in a very subtle way.

He is funny, charismatic and very down to earth. So are the other actors in the movie. Now it is time to get to know some things about their participation in the movie.

When George Clooney was asked if he sees this film as quite bold he answered: "Putting me in a summer movie is a very bold thought. You know, listen. First and foremost, I think it is a really bold thing for Disney to be willing to do a film that isn’t a sequel and isn’t a comic book, to really invest in a summer film of this sort of ilk. The fun part of it, to me, was when you read the screenplay, although I have to say, just so we’re clear, when Damon and Brad showed up at my house, they said, “We’ve got a part that we’ve written for you.” And then I opened up the description of the character and it’s a 55-year-old has-been, and I’m kind of going, “Hang on a minute, which part am I reading for?”

Britt Robertson answered the question of how do you contribute to the world to make it better? "My big thing right now, living in California, is that I’ve turned off my sprinklers. So I mean, I know its small, I know it’s a very small step, but I’m trying to use less water. Hey, bless you. I’ve been trying to conserve on the water front, and I think, you know, it’s important for everyone to kind of take into consideration their community, and sort of the environment wherever they are, and the things that they can do for that specific region. And that’s kind of what I’m doing, but I’ll try other things. If you have any ideas, send them over."

Tim McGraw told us that he felt oddly comfortable playing his part:  " I was thinking of the scene where we were shooting in the car, Britt and I. We had a long conversation in the car. We were talking about life and talking about guys. It was pretty reminiscent of some of the conversations that I’ve had with my daughters. In fact, I had to be upset in that scene and I had just been upset with my daughter the night before about something. There were a lot of parallels for me, for sure"

Raffey Cassidy said that to help the world be a better place she would "change something in the world and get rid of any technology or anything, but keep the cool cars and everything.  And then, like, say like in the old-fashioned times when you wrote letters to people, I’d like to do that, but make better things that gets it to them quicker."

Did Walt Disney had any influence on the movie? Damon Lindelof told us " there is a much longer version of this movie, not necessarily a better one, that is much more explicit about Walt’s involvement. But the idea is that it was very explicit about the idea that he was a member of Plus Ultra, and that Disneyland, particularly Tomorrowland and Disneyland, were covers for the actual Tomorrowland. Our feeling was that aside from trying to find that line in any movie when it gets bogged down by exposition and no longer becomes enjoyable to watch, the feeling was that by directly referencing Disney and Disneyland in a movie that is a Disney movie, it just suddenly felt like, “Oh, are we trying to sell tickets to go to the theme park,” when the theme park should be selling tickets to go and see Tomorrowland. "

Disney’s great at creating synergy and often we’ve seen how some of their movies tie into attractions in the theme parks. Is there an attraction for Tomorrowland in development, and if there were or isn’t, what kind of attraction would you guys hope that would be, and what elements would it include from the movie? Brad Bird answered this question with: "Yeah, we had an idea for that. They’re suddenly, in the last act, all the guys are presented with this horrible, “This is what happened! This is what could happen!” The animatronics get horrified. But George is pitching jetpacks. He wants everyone issued one. They can just fly around the park. And now that they serve alcohol in the park, I think that would be a great deal of fun. "

Jeff Jensen said it was mind blowing when Damon called him for this project: Yeah. It was definitely a little crazy and humbling too. I mean, it was a lot of fun to work with someone whose storytelling you really admire, and to get in a room with them. And the idea that he pitched to me was just really engaging. Yeah, we groove on the same stuff, but the whole idea of a movie that kind of riffed on and looked at the different ways that we looked at the future then and now, to research the history of futurism and science fiction, and let that inform a story, that was super-fun, and to really kind of build out the story. But also, I thought I knew a lot about how movies are made and TV shows are made. And this was a real learning experience in how much I didn’t know. "

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Remember to head over to theaters on May 22nd to watch Tomorrowland!